Clear-headed and eager to go, we woke up the next morning
and made our way to the bus station. There is not much that can be said about
the bus station, though we did see a man walking around with his bollocks out –
that was weird.
Bus tickets in China are usually pretty cheap, and this was
no exception. Tickets to Zhangjiajie were 120RMB, though we were told that it
was actually a five and a half hour journey, rather than the four hours we’d
expected. Buoyed by this wonderful news we got on the bus in high spirits and
having just bought a variety of snacks (most of which were unknown to us) were
soon on our way. The national park we were headed for is a vast expanse of huge
sandstone pillars, supposedly one of the inspirations behind the floating
islands in Avatar. Driving there from Changsha though, the scenery was pretty
drab and it was difficult to see where this majestic scenery was supposed to
start. As we arrived in Zhangjiajie the terrain had got slightly more mountainous,
though still not something you’d put on a postcard.
A three-day ticket for the park is 250RMB with hotels and
hostels clustered around the entrance of the park. We had already decided
against this option though, and picked up a four man tent in Zhangjiajie before
setting off for the park. Within an hour we had managed to get a bus and found
ourselves at the entrance of the park. By this point it was starting to look a
little more impressive and we soon found ourselves surrounded by high peaks, valleys
and lush greenery. The entrance to the park was fairly touristy with concrete
paths, drinks vendors and of course; plenty of people. It was already 4pm
though, and many people were actually leaving the park and heading back to
their accommodation. Taking this as our cue, we headed deeper into the park and
set about climbing one of the peaks. There were steps leading the entire way
up, though by this point we were no longer coming across many other people. The
climb was long and tiring though the views were spectacular. As we continued to ascend the light began to
fade and we began to look for places to set up our tent. The forest was quite
thick though, and we decided to hold off until we had reached the top, where we
might have better luck finding a clearing. As we drew closer to the peak we
seemed to draw upon fresh reserves of energy; the view promised to be superb
and who knew what we might find up there? Struggling over the last rise we were
finally met by the sight of the summit – as well as a broad well-maintained
concrete road and a large hostel. Damn. This intrepid adventure had just got a
lot more tame. Apparently for those tourists who eschew climbing to the top it
is quite easy to get a taxi to drive you there. That is something I have since
heard about other national parks in China; they are very much aimed at tourists
who are not keen on actually doing any walking, and as such are criss-crossed
with paths, roads and cable cars.
Somewhat disheartened we continued our journey (by the side of
the road this time) to find somewhere to camp. We soon came across more
buildings and even a restaurant, and decided that this might be a good to
settle down for dinner. The restaurant owner was particularly friendly and
almost immediately began plying us with Baijiu (Chinese rice wine – I wretch
every time I drink it) and beer as we finished our meal. We were pretty much
done by this point and asked him if it would be possible to camp out the front
of his restaurant. Luckily by this point he was half-cut and soon agreed. In
the spirit of cultural exchange and friendliness we unveiled the bottle of rum
we had bought with us and got good and drunk with the proprietor. It was hardly
Bear Grylls, though considering our lack of equipment, food and preparation it
was probably just as well.
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